Dry conditions prompt restrictions of Thurmond Lake flow

Continued dry weather prompted a flow reduction from Thurmond Lake Tuesday as the reservoir slipped into the second drought trigger level under a federally approved drought management plan.

“The reservoirs will likely continue to decline over the next several weeks unless a tropical system moves over the area,” said Stan Simpson, a water control manager with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

To slow the decline, the corps limited outflow from Thurmond Dam to 4,000 cubic feet per second, averaged over one week. The reduction from the level 1 rate of 4,200 cfs decreases the amount of hydropower generated through the dams but conserves more water in the reservoirs.

Thurmond’s water inflow is about 35 percent of normal. Precipitation forecasts show little rain for the region in upcoming weeks. Hydrologists with the Savannah District note that current declining reservoir conditions follow a typical summer pattern.

ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here and for
following agreed-upon rules of civility. Posts and
comments do not reflect the views of this site. Posts and comments are
automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some
comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules,
click the "Flag as offensive" link below the comment.

Conspiracy Theory- The Corps has a lake wide clean up day on Sept. 24 with a picnic afterwards. Teams are signing up to clean up different areas of the shoreline. If the lake goes down there will be more shoreline to clean up and the lake will be long term better off as ugly litter will be gone. Every lake lover should get out from behind their computer screen, round up friends and call 800 533 3478 and volunteer to clean up. The shoreline between 328 and 330 has seen water once in the last ten years. Beware -that area, with ten foot tall pines, belongs to Mr. No Shoulders. If you love the lake, see you at the picnic. Just Do it.